Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, such as lithium secondary batteries, are being used as a wide variety of power sources, ranging from power sources for so-called portable electronic devices such as mobile phones and notebooks, to large stationary power sources as well as automotive power sources for driving, in automobiles or the like. However, the demands placed on the secondary batteries that are used have become ever more challenging in recent years, accompanying the higher performances of electronic devices and the growing use of secondary batteries as automotive power sources for driving and as large stationary power sources. It is now required that the characteristics of secondary batteries afford high battery performance levels in terms of, for instance, higher capacity, and improved high-temperature storage characteristic and cycle characteristic.
Ordinarily, the electrolyte solutions that are used in nonaqueous electrolyte solution lithium secondary batteries are mainly made up of an electrolyte and a nonaqueous solvent. Examples of the main component of the nonaqueous solvent include, for instance, cyclic carbonates such as ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate; linear carbonates such as dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate or ethyl methyl carbonate; and cyclic carboxylic acid esters such as γ-butyrolactone, γ-valerolactone or the like.
Various nonaqueous solvents, electrolytes and additives, such as auxiliary agents, have been proposed in order to improve battery characteristics such as the load characteristic, cycle characteristic, storage characteristic and low-temperature characteristic of the battery in which the nonaqueous electrolyte solution is used. For instance, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose nonaqueous electrolytes that utilize a carbon material in the negative electrode, wherein a good coating film is formed, on the surface of the negative electrode, through a preferential reaction of a cyclic carbonate having a double bond with the negative electrode, by using a vinylene carbonate and derivatives thereof, or vinylethylene carbonate derivatives. The storage characteristic and the cycle characteristic of the battery are enhanced as a result. Patent Documents 3 and 4 disclose the feature of enhancing the storage characteristic and cycle characteristic of a battery by adding a compound having a cyano group or 1,3-propanesultone to a nonaqueous electrolyte solution.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H8-45545    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H4-87156    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H7-176322    Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-162511